Criminal Charges / Crimes

I cannot speak to the possible sentence in the situation you are asking about specifically but I can tell you that in general, sentencing can be very complicated and the defendant’s actual sentence may be determined by many different factors. For example, if a defendant decides to plead guilty and make a deal with the prosecutor, s/he may not face the maximum amount of jail time or any jail time at all depending on the crime s/he is charged with (perhaps instead of jail, s/he might get probation, community service, a treatment program, etc). If s/he has committed other crimes in the past, perhaps s/he may be sentenced to more time in jail than another person who has never committed a crime - I can’t say how this would be handled in the case that you are asking about. Also, assuming the defendant pleads guilty or is convicted of multiple crimes, there could be the possibility that the judge may sentence the defendant to serve each sentence for each crime concurrently (at the same time) or consecutively (one after the other). To explain what that means, let’s assume that a person is convicted of 4 counts (crimes) and s/he is sentenced to 1 year in jail for each of the counts. If the judge orders the time to be served concurrently, s/he would only spend 1 year total in jail because the punishment would all be at the same time. In other words, s/he’d be in jail for all four crimes at the same time and the court would count that one year as one year punishment for each of the crimes. If, assuming the same situation, the judge orders him/her to serve time in jail consecutively, s/he could end up serving 4 years, 1 year after the next. Again, it is very difficult to predict a sentence because it depends on several factors.

You may want to contact the prosecutor or district attorney in charge of the case to discuss how long the abuser will most likely spend in jail. In general, a victim of a crime may be able to make his/her wishes about an abuser’s sentence known to the prosecutor if s/he has a strong desire for jail time or no jail time - I don’t know if the prosecutor would consider your wishes but you may decide to express them if you choose. Another possibility that a victim can ask a prosecutor about is whether or not s/he can make a victim impact statement to the judge before the defendant in a criminal case is sentenced. In some cases, this statement (which may be written and submitted to the judge or spoken aloud in court) can let the judge know how a victim was impacted by the crime because sometimes judges take a victim’s feelings into account when sentencing a criminal. Again, I cannot speak to whether or not this may be a possibility in your specific situation but perhaps the prosecutor could tell you.